Detail View of Soona Mahal, Mumbai

A detail photograph of the street corner facade of Soona Mahal along Marine Drive. The building is situated at Kilachand Chowk, a junction of two arterial roads, Veer Nariman Road, previously known as Churchgate Street, and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road, also popularly known as Marine Drive, in South Mumbai. Built in 1937, Soona Mahal was designed by Suvernpatki and Vora with consulting architect G.B. Mhatre, 20th century Bombay's most prolific Deco architect.

Design features of this building like curvilinear balconies, cylindrical turret-like observatory and its street corner facade draw inspiration from the Arabian sea it faces and the nautical history of the city. Other design details like banding details, continuous eyebrows, and the two-tone colour scheme add to the aesthetics making it one of the iconic buildings along Marine Drive. The vertical banding details on the street corner facade end with ziggurat-inspired stepped profile detail.

Originally, the cylindrical turret-like observatory was a social gathering space where residents enjoyed sunsets and stunning views of the bay over casual conversations.